DIVERSITY, EQUITY, & INCLUSION: “FOR YOU WERE STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND”
When I was a teenager, one of the most popular science fiction books was Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein.
Robert Heinlein
This sci-fi cult classic tells the story about Valentine Michael Smith. The story takes place prior to a World War III. A starship from earth crashes on Mars, and contact is lost with the crew. All are feared dead.
Many years later, a second starship from earth discovers that, in fact, not everyone was lost in the first starship crash. A human baby had been born, and this child — now a young man— turns out to be Valentine Michael Smith.
Valentine has been raised by Martians, but the new Earth-based crew bring Smith back from Mars. Once on Earth, Smith turns out to be a big sensation. He is like an enlightened master, drawing many followers to himself and his Martian-influenced philosophy and forms of spirituality.
This, of course, creates many difficulties and polarization. Some see Smith as a new savior while others see him a new Satan incarnate.
One of the key lessons that Smith teaches is “groking.” When you “grok” something, you more than feel empathetic and compassionate towards this something. You feel and experience a real connection, or oneness, with this something.
In the 1960s, the infinitive “to grok” became very popular in many progressive circles during the era of the Civil Rights Movement. The word “grok” even entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 1961.
The move to create Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) very much flowed, in part, from this sense of “groking.” God in the Old Testament tells the Jewish people that they need to treat the strangers (non-Jews) in their land fairly and kindly “for you were strangers in a strange land” (Exodus 22:21). Jews were not to forget what it was like to be slaves in Egypt, and they were to treat people— who were different from them— very differently from how Jews got the short end of the stick under Pharaoh.
Ironically, I think all of the above is so relevant to what we are currently going through in America. Let me recommend to you an excellent book written by Harvard historian Jill Lepore. The book is called These Truths: A History of the United States.
Professor Lepore’s book does such a good job of explaining, and showing the many wonderful things about America. But she also does an excellent job of compassionately showing the warts and blemishes that have been – – and still are – – a part of our country and society.
I am very grateful that my grandparents on both sides left the old country and came to America! My father was seven years old when he arrived here, and my family really didn’t have much money. But my father was able to earn scholarships to attend both an Ivy League college and an Ivy League law school.
As I’ve shared before, I was adopted into a Jewish family. I remember house hunting with my parents. I, of course, was a very little boy at the time and my parents were looking for a home in a community on the North Shore of Long Island. We were looking at one nice home, and the real estate agents came up to my parents and told them that they looked like very nice professional people. However, no Jews could live in this part of town they told my parents.
I don’t want to compare what my family experienced to African-Americans and other groups within our society that have experienced far worse situations. But it is so untruthful to teach children that the American reality has been one big ”la di da” cakewalk for everybody.
Yet a number of state legislature either have enacted – – or in the process of enacting— legislation that would dilute or ban DEI curriculum in schools. It is for this reason that I applaud the NAACP for asking black students and student-athletes to avoid going to colleges and universities in states where governors and legislators are moving to get DEI studies out of classrooms. I would hope that many white students and student – athletes also would heed the NAACP’s clarion call.
I can hear some people saying, “Rev. Rick, your columns most often are about spirituality. But this column is moving in the direction of politics.” I would agree that partisan politics should play no part of my Sunday messages or Wednesday blogs/columns. But what I have written and said is not partisan politics.
In fact, the apostle James believed that the “essence of real religion” includes being concerned about how strangers, and widows and orphans are treated (See James 1:27).
I believe that working to uphold most forms of DEI— and rejecting book banning— are really spiritual acts. I treasure that Unity in the Seven Hills has such a strong sense of spirituality in the form of social justice and activism.
May we be able to pass on these passions in Lynchburg and the world beyond. May we do all we can – – both on the individual and church levels – – to see that DEI is not eliminated or gutted in our land.
May we all be able to include more “groking” in our individual and church community lives.
